Last time on A Hard Day's Write: I left you at the Museum of London that held the Sherlock Holmes exhibit. As I said last week, this post will be the "thrilling" conclusion to my trip to London. Without further ado.....
I headed towards Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. Instead of getting cramped on a 15 minute tube ride, I chose the more scenic route of walking there. It took about an hour, but I saw some great sites. It's really interesting because the city has these historic churches that are right in the middle of streets. They built the modern roads around these churches and buildings. While walking, I saw a presentation of royal guards receiving promotions. It lasted about 15 minutes and was either spoken in a different language or heavily accented English because I couldn't understand a word they said.
By way of Fleet Street, I made it to Trafalgar Square. Oddly enough, I didn't see any barbershops on Fleet Street.... The square was huge, filled with tourists, and had statues galore.
I headed towards Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. Instead of getting cramped on a 15 minute tube ride, I chose the more scenic route of walking there. It took about an hour, but I saw some great sites. It's really interesting because the city has these historic churches that are right in the middle of streets. They built the modern roads around these churches and buildings. While walking, I saw a presentation of royal guards receiving promotions. It lasted about 15 minutes and was either spoken in a different language or heavily accented English because I couldn't understand a word they said.
By way of Fleet Street, I made it to Trafalgar Square. Oddly enough, I didn't see any barbershops on Fleet Street.... The square was huge, filled with tourists, and had statues galore.
The National Gallery was beautiful. It had over 20 exhibit rooms with art ranging from the 13th century up to the 18th Century. The coolest piece of art was the cartoon (sketch) of Da Vinci's "The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and John The Baptist." Speaking of the Virgin and Child, I would say the majority of the galleries were different paintings of Mary and Jesus. It was disappointing in that sense. The exhibits with impressionist art was cool and they had quite a few Monet's that were stunning.
After the National Gallery, I headed back to my hostel, ate and rested before the big event...Cat Stevens! The venue was much like the theatres at Playhouse Square. Before the show, I stood in a mob of people to buy a t-shirt from the shop. For those of that have been concerts, t-shirts can be quite expensive. Thankfully, Cat had his t-shirts at a reasonable price. Like Wicked, I was in the fifth row again. The only difference was that I was in the fifth row from the back in the nosebleed seats. I was able to see the stage and Cat Stevens quite well because the venue was small.
The stage was set up like a old fashioned, western train station. I was waiting for tumbleweeds to roll by. The lights went down, and the sounds of a train leaving the station played through the speakers. Fog covered the stage like a train's steam. Then, Cat began shouting " Wait! Stop the train! I can't miss it again!" He walked out of the train station and sat down on the station bench. " Looks like I missed the train again," he said while pulling out his guitar from his luggage cart. " I'll just have to pass the time here."
Cat began with "Wild World" and we were off! He played a medley of songs, and sounds of trains leaving the station were played over the speakers. With each train leaving, a band member came out on the stage as if they missed their train as well and joined Cat in playing music. The concert was absolutely phenomenal. He played all his old hits, including "Moonshadow", " Another Saturday Night", "If you want to sing out", and " Morning has Broken." He switched guitars for every song and played piano on some of them. I didn't realize how great a piano player he was. His voice hasn't changed a bit. He sounds exactly like he did on his 70's records. Unbelievable.
He played for an hour and half, then left for an intermission. The last song before the break was "All You Need is Love." He must've known I was in the audience. Speaking of the audience, I got a few looks of confusion from those around me. A lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder to ask how old I was. When I told her she replied, "Christ, I got grand-kids older than you and they don't even know who Cat is!" A gentleman next to me really struggled with the fact that a 22 year old came to see an artist of the "old farts" generation.
Cat came back on and played for another hour and a half. The second half began with his new material and ended with some real crowd pleasers. The last song, "Father and Son," had everyone in the audience singing along. After a 5 minute standing ovation, sounds of a train entering the station began, and Cat caught his train. Fortunately, he came back for an encore at which he played "Peace Train" and ended with a dedication to his wife playing "A Hard-Headed Woman." With this being his last show in London, he said he'd play a little bit longer and did. It was a wonderful, enchanting evening and I'm glad I went. He is coming to the states so I highly recommend going to see him. You will not be disappointed.
The stage was set up like a old fashioned, western train station. I was waiting for tumbleweeds to roll by. The lights went down, and the sounds of a train leaving the station played through the speakers. Fog covered the stage like a train's steam. Then, Cat began shouting " Wait! Stop the train! I can't miss it again!" He walked out of the train station and sat down on the station bench. " Looks like I missed the train again," he said while pulling out his guitar from his luggage cart. " I'll just have to pass the time here."
Cat began with "Wild World" and we were off! He played a medley of songs, and sounds of trains leaving the station were played over the speakers. With each train leaving, a band member came out on the stage as if they missed their train as well and joined Cat in playing music. The concert was absolutely phenomenal. He played all his old hits, including "Moonshadow", " Another Saturday Night", "If you want to sing out", and " Morning has Broken." He switched guitars for every song and played piano on some of them. I didn't realize how great a piano player he was. His voice hasn't changed a bit. He sounds exactly like he did on his 70's records. Unbelievable.
He played for an hour and half, then left for an intermission. The last song before the break was "All You Need is Love." He must've known I was in the audience. Speaking of the audience, I got a few looks of confusion from those around me. A lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder to ask how old I was. When I told her she replied, "Christ, I got grand-kids older than you and they don't even know who Cat is!" A gentleman next to me really struggled with the fact that a 22 year old came to see an artist of the "old farts" generation.
Cat came back on and played for another hour and a half. The second half began with his new material and ended with some real crowd pleasers. The last song, "Father and Son," had everyone in the audience singing along. After a 5 minute standing ovation, sounds of a train entering the station began, and Cat caught his train. Fortunately, he came back for an encore at which he played "Peace Train" and ended with a dedication to his wife playing "A Hard-Headed Woman." With this being his last show in London, he said he'd play a little bit longer and did. It was a wonderful, enchanting evening and I'm glad I went. He is coming to the states so I highly recommend going to see him. You will not be disappointed.
Being the 5th of November, I was curious to see how the Brits reacted to Guy Fawkes Day. I got my answer on my way home. I got off the tube at Westminster to cross the bridge by Big Ben to get to my hostel. I approached and saw a row of police cars blocking the bridge. Three people were on the ground in handcuffs as I walked up to a policeman. On the bridge was a barricade of policemen pushing back a mob of protestors all dressed as Guy Fawkes. I told him that I needed to get to the other side to my hostel. He advised me to walk to another bridge or find a new hostel because if I went into the mob, I wouldn't get out the other side. I didn't know what to do, so I decided to chance it and went through the mob. It was a scary. The mob of protestors were fighting, shooting off fireworks, pushing, and pulling people to the ground. It was utter madness. Luckily, I made it to the other side and found another police barricade. The first policemen wouldn't let me through but the second one did and guided me through the rest of the mob.
Waking up the next morning, it was on the news that this was more than a celebration of Guy Fawkes. These protestors were intent on storming the House of Parliament that night. Things got very intense after I had left the bridge with 17 people being arrested and thrown in jail.
Waking up the next morning, it was on the news that this was more than a celebration of Guy Fawkes. These protestors were intent on storming the House of Parliament that night. Things got very intense after I had left the bridge with 17 people being arrested and thrown in jail.
On my last morning in London, I decided to spend it at the 'Bond in Motion' exhibit. This was an exhibit dedicated to the cars, motorcycles, boats and vehicles of James Bond. I'm a HUGE James Bond fan and loved this exhibit. They had Goldfinger's Rolls Royce, the Aston Martin DB5 from "Goldeneye", Little Nellie from "You Only Live Twice." I spent the whole morning, walking around the exhibit, listening to the audio tour, and taking pictures of all things Bond. I was the only person in the exhibit at the time, so I got to take my time and soak it all in.
That concluded my London Trip. The train ride home wasn't too exciting except that I got stuck next to a elderly couple that discussed whether they had ever counted sheep in their sleep for at least 40 minutes. It was a great three days and I'm glad I went. I definitely will be back because there is so much more to see.
Mark's Musings:
Liverpudlians love to shorten names or give nicknames. They do it for everything. For example, there is a girl in my class named Lucy but the Liverpudlians call her 'Luce.' A Sandwich is a 'Sande', the store Tesco is 'Tessie.' A beverage is 'Bevie', Television is 'Tele.' Sometimes it takes a minute to realize what they say because you have to decipher the nickname. And yes I have a nickname....Markie.
Daylight: It certainly gets darker here much faster. By 3:45, it is almost dusk and around 4:30 it's pitch black. I haven't gotten used to it, and I don't know if I will. It makes days go by so fast. Even as I'm writing this at 1 PM, the sun is setting and disappearing over the horizon.
Trivia! 5 people responded, 2 take the cake. The answer is: 2! Although he's considered Holmes' greatest nemesis, Moriarty only appears in two stories out of 56 short stories and four novels.
This week's trivia is:
Mark's Musings:
Liverpudlians love to shorten names or give nicknames. They do it for everything. For example, there is a girl in my class named Lucy but the Liverpudlians call her 'Luce.' A Sandwich is a 'Sande', the store Tesco is 'Tessie.' A beverage is 'Bevie', Television is 'Tele.' Sometimes it takes a minute to realize what they say because you have to decipher the nickname. And yes I have a nickname....Markie.
Daylight: It certainly gets darker here much faster. By 3:45, it is almost dusk and around 4:30 it's pitch black. I haven't gotten used to it, and I don't know if I will. It makes days go by so fast. Even as I'm writing this at 1 PM, the sun is setting and disappearing over the horizon.
Trivia! 5 people responded, 2 take the cake. The answer is: 2! Although he's considered Holmes' greatest nemesis, Moriarty only appears in two stories out of 56 short stories and four novels.
This week's trivia is:
Next weekend, I'll be traveling to Birmingham to attend a convention and see the city. I'm looking forward to this trip. I can't wait to share it with you. So until then...
Peace & Love,
Mark
Peace & Love,
Mark